WEBVTT - Ep. 859: Foundations - How to Trick Yourself Into Being a Better Deer Hunter

0:00:01.240 --> 0:00:05.120
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide

0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:08.879
<v Speaker 1>to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,

0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:13.560
<v Speaker 1>creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.

0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:18.600
<v Speaker 1>First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host

0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:19.919
<v Speaker 1>Tony Peterson.

0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.800
<v Speaker 2>Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wired un Foundation's podcast, which

0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:25.479
<v Speaker 2>is brought to you by first Light. I'm her host,

0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.760
<v Speaker 2>Tony Peterson, and this episode is all about going where

0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:31.480
<v Speaker 2>you really don't care about deer so that you can

0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:40.920
<v Speaker 2>learn all about deer. This is a weird one and

0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.479
<v Speaker 2>you might think it's I don't know, maybe not the

0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:45.839
<v Speaker 2>best advice for how to learn deer, but I think

0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.360
<v Speaker 2>it's pretty good. So what am I going to talk about, Well,

0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.320
<v Speaker 2>going into the woods and not looking for deer specifically.

0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:54.639
<v Speaker 2>The more I go look for other things and other

0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.080
<v Speaker 2>critters and find other reasons to be out there, the

0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.160
<v Speaker 2>more I pick up on deer hunting movements and how

0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:01.880
<v Speaker 2>they use the lance gape. That's the basis for this

0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:09.240
<v Speaker 2>whole show, so buckle up. There are a lot of

0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.800
<v Speaker 2>sayings about being books smart versus being street smart, and

0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:16.400
<v Speaker 2>I love all of them mostly, and I'm not proud

0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:18.560
<v Speaker 2>of this, but I'm gonna say it anyway, because my

0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.800
<v Speaker 2>wife is very BookSmart. I, on the other hand, am not.

0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:25.720
<v Speaker 2>I doubt you'd say I'm very street smart either, But

0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.240
<v Speaker 2>that's beside the point. The truth is there is a

0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:32.080
<v Speaker 2>lot you can learn from books and from consuming content.

0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.559
<v Speaker 2>I hope that's true anyway, because otherwise my professional career

0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.640
<v Speaker 2>has mostly been a sham, which, come to think of it,

0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.360
<v Speaker 2>might be true. The reality, though, is that there are

0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:48.440
<v Speaker 2>academic pursuits and then there's experience. Academics are great for

0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:52.200
<v Speaker 2>giving you facts and the processes upon which you might

0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.800
<v Speaker 2>learn some facts. It teaches your mind to work out problems,

0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:00.240
<v Speaker 2>or at least parts of problems, and that's important. Still

0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:02.520
<v Speaker 2>largely be about this, Maybe it still is. I don't know.

0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.280
<v Speaker 2>I haven't been there in a while. It wasn't necessarily

0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.440
<v Speaker 2>to directly prepare you for a career in a certain field,

0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.640
<v Speaker 2>although that was and is a component of higher education.

0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.000
<v Speaker 2>But the heart of it was to teach us, like

0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.640
<v Speaker 2>how to think, how to think better. Maybe, and it

0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.880
<v Speaker 2>works too, but using your brain can only take you

0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.200
<v Speaker 2>so far. You also have to engage with tasks and

0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.160
<v Speaker 2>problems and sort them out in real time. And in person.

0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.440
<v Speaker 2>Let me give you an example from a recent conversation

0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.600
<v Speaker 2>I had with a woman who was trying real hard

0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.799
<v Speaker 2>to kill a buck on public land. Her dilemma is this,

0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.000
<v Speaker 2>she found a concentration of sign on a chunk of

0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.239
<v Speaker 2>ground in Kansas, where she lives. The concentration is accessible

0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.960
<v Speaker 2>from two different parking areas. Both require a walk of

0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:49.560
<v Speaker 2>about a mile, and one takes her low through a

0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.400
<v Speaker 2>thick river bottom and the other takes her high up

0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:56.120
<v Speaker 2>on a ridgetop. She maintains that both the ridgetop and

0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:58.840
<v Speaker 2>the creek bottom have deer in them, so getting in

0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:03.800
<v Speaker 2>is almost impossible without spooking deer. That to her is

0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.919
<v Speaker 2>a major problem, a problem she was looking for an

0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:12.280
<v Speaker 2>academic solution to which doesn't exist. You can't really outthink

0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.480
<v Speaker 2>a problem like that, You just can't. You kind of

0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:19.160
<v Speaker 2>just got to go into the creek bottom hunt see

0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.760
<v Speaker 2>what happens. Or you have to go on the ridgetop hunt,

0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:25.680
<v Speaker 2>see what happens. Then you have to figure out what

0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.640
<v Speaker 2>went wrong and experiment to see if you can solve

0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.680
<v Speaker 2>for the problems or not. Does that sound a little

0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.680
<v Speaker 2>too simple, Because hunting is simple, my friends, But simple

0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:40.120
<v Speaker 2>doesn't always mean easy. In fact, it often doesn't, and

0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:43.360
<v Speaker 2>that kind of sucks. Look at this another way. Do

0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.600
<v Speaker 2>you want to look better naked? Of course you do.

0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.880
<v Speaker 2>And while I understand that was an extremely creepy way

0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.640
<v Speaker 2>to frame this point up, I used it. And that's

0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:55.880
<v Speaker 2>that if you want to look better naked, you need

0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.560
<v Speaker 2>to exercise more and eat fewer bowls of ice cream,

0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.480
<v Speaker 2>size a lot and eat kind of shitty, or you

0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:04.960
<v Speaker 2>can exercise a little and eat really clean, or some

0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.560
<v Speaker 2>version of both. But the truth is that putting on

0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.120
<v Speaker 2>muscle and losing weight tends to solve the problem of

0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.120
<v Speaker 2>looking good in your birthday suit. But that's not easy.

0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.919
<v Speaker 2>In fact, it's real hard. You won't suddenly find yourself

0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.480
<v Speaker 2>looking fine by reading a book. You'll get there by

0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.360
<v Speaker 2>exercising and eating a certain way and figuring out how

0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.680
<v Speaker 2>to keep yourself moving in the right direction even when

0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:30.040
<v Speaker 2>you don't want to. You want to kill a Kansas

0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.719
<v Speaker 2>book on public land, it's simple, go find some sign

0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.279
<v Speaker 2>and hunt it. But of course you have the question

0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.800
<v Speaker 2>of access, and the question of hunting pressure, and the

0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.280
<v Speaker 2>question of your own time and how much of it

0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.080
<v Speaker 2>you have, and the question of what direction the wind's

0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:45.720
<v Speaker 2>going to be blowing on the morning you can hunt,

0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.240
<v Speaker 2>and the temperature, and on and on and on and on. Academically,

0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.800
<v Speaker 2>this stuff's pretty easy. But you won't know what those

0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:56.880
<v Speaker 2>ridgetop deer are really going to do until you hunt

0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.640
<v Speaker 2>it and figure it out in person. Do you know

0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.920
<v Speaker 2>where the real problem in all this lies? We love

0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.479
<v Speaker 2>leaning towards the academic side of things. It's easier to

0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:08.800
<v Speaker 2>watch a YouTube video on scouting than it is to

0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.400
<v Speaker 2>go scout. It's easier to read an article on how

0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:14.760
<v Speaker 2>to kill a mature buck in the cattails than it

0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.039
<v Speaker 2>is to go find one living in the cattails and

0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.599
<v Speaker 2>then hunt him until you kill him. It's easier to

0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:23.360
<v Speaker 2>write off a concentration of deer on a chunk of

0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:27.360
<v Speaker 2>public land in Kansas because you just know you'll bust

0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.280
<v Speaker 2>them going in than it is to go in on

0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.760
<v Speaker 2>one of your precious hunting days for a trial and

0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.520
<v Speaker 2>error morning or evening sit. But what's better for you

0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.039
<v Speaker 2>as a hunter? We all know the answer, just like

0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.840
<v Speaker 2>we know what too much ice cream and couch time

0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:47.360
<v Speaker 2>does to us physically. Look, it sucks, but it's true.

0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.520
<v Speaker 2>So how do you engage in this simple concept that

0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:52.400
<v Speaker 2>it's hard? To implement so that you can be a

0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.479
<v Speaker 2>stone cold deer killer, whether you're trying to figure things

0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.520
<v Speaker 2>out in Kansas or South Carolina or Pennsylvania or wherever

0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.680
<v Speaker 2>we find the discipline to do it. Or you trick yourself.

0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.440
<v Speaker 2>I mean that I trick myself all the time. I

0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.800
<v Speaker 2>don't want to go too deep into this because I'm

0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.839
<v Speaker 2>a squirrel writer and not a psychologist. But one of

0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.040
<v Speaker 2>the things people ask me fairly often is how I

0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:18.560
<v Speaker 2>run so much without wanting to kill myself. The jokes

0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.080
<v Speaker 2>on them, though, because running is actually what keeps the

0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.480
<v Speaker 2>bad thoughts at bay, and it's amazing for that task.

0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:29.080
<v Speaker 2>But it's also not about wanting to run. I don't

0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.320
<v Speaker 2>want to do that. I dread it every time, just

0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.599
<v Speaker 2>as I like it when I'm done every time. But

0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:37.960
<v Speaker 2>I have to get myself to do it. So I

0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.440
<v Speaker 2>set a goal and I tell anyone and everyone I

0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:45.039
<v Speaker 2>can about that goal. That holds me a little accountable

0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.520
<v Speaker 2>with my circle of friends and family who really don't

0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.279
<v Speaker 2>want to hear about my running, just like my podcast audience.

0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.960
<v Speaker 2>But the main reason is that a yearly mile goal

0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:59.080
<v Speaker 2>is weirdly important to me. I hate not hitting it,

0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.440
<v Speaker 2>so it keeps me honest with myself, even though I'm

0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.520
<v Speaker 2>just playing a trick on myself. The minute that one

0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.599
<v Speaker 2>goal ends for the year, which this year is running

0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:12.000
<v Speaker 2>eight hundred miles, I'll set a new goal for the

0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:15.960
<v Speaker 2>new year. It gives me great pleasure to meet that goal,

0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.000
<v Speaker 2>even though I know the task of running isn't going

0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.480
<v Speaker 2>to end for me. It's not even really going to

0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.240
<v Speaker 2>change when I meet it. I just have to have

0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.800
<v Speaker 2>it otherwise I won't run as much as I should.

0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.280
<v Speaker 2>When it comes to deer hunting, we all know we

0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.680
<v Speaker 2>should scout more. We really should, but it's also very

0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.000
<v Speaker 2>easy to not scout as much as we should because

0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.960
<v Speaker 2>to most of us, scouting isn't as fun as hunting

0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.680
<v Speaker 2>or about ten thousand other things we could do. So

0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.040
<v Speaker 2>we fill in the blanks with trail cameras and we

0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:47.239
<v Speaker 2>consume content, or we hang out with our hunting buddies

0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.640
<v Speaker 2>just to talk about deer hunting whatever. But we need

0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.880
<v Speaker 2>experience out there, and that is a never ending journey.

0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:56.600
<v Speaker 2>Just like getting in shape. You can have the goal

0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:58.760
<v Speaker 2>of getting to your high school weight or benching two

0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.680
<v Speaker 2>hundred and fifty pounds or running a half marathon. That's

0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:05.000
<v Speaker 2>all great, but the minute you hit your goal, you

0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:08.480
<v Speaker 2>better figure out another one, or it's more likely that

0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:12.560
<v Speaker 2>you're just borrowing that accomplishment. Yeah you did it, that's great,

0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:14.760
<v Speaker 2>but if you go back to not doing anything, it's

0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:28.680
<v Speaker 2>kind of a hollow victory. With hunting, the way that

0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.160
<v Speaker 2>I trick myself into learning about deer is to find

0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.440
<v Speaker 2>as many reasons as possible to be out there. Some

0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.240
<v Speaker 2>of them are easy. You all know that I absolutely

0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.320
<v Speaker 2>love pheasant hunting, and as I record this podcast, I

0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.760
<v Speaker 2>have a young lab sleeping next to me who has

0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.640
<v Speaker 2>no skin left on her lips, or most of her nose,

0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.960
<v Speaker 2>or parts of her cheeks and around her eyes. The

0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.560
<v Speaker 2>cattails have literally worn her face off and she loves it,

0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.760
<v Speaker 2>and so do I. I don't need an excuse to pheasant hunt,

0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.959
<v Speaker 2>and many many times each season I'll drive seven hours

0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.200
<v Speaker 2>round trip in a single day to hunt for a

0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.520
<v Speaker 2>couple of roosters. I love it for many reasons, but

0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.319
<v Speaker 2>one side benefit to it is I learn a ton

0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.360
<v Speaker 2>about deer when I follow a black lab around where

0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.560
<v Speaker 2>the roosters like to hang out. Recently, I filmed a

0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.040
<v Speaker 2>pheasant show on a few different parcels of public land

0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.240
<v Speaker 2>in western Minnesota, and on one of those days it

0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.600
<v Speaker 2>was very windy, like twenty to thirty mile per hour

0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.360
<v Speaker 2>winds all day long. That meant that the roosters were

0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:29.960
<v Speaker 2>cagy as hell, and if they got up into that

0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.200
<v Speaker 2>wind and I wasn't ready, they were also pretty safe

0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:37.000
<v Speaker 2>because those are birds I will shoot behind, mostly, particularly

0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.080
<v Speaker 2>if they make the good decision to swing to my right.

0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.160
<v Speaker 2>But that wind did something else. When you're filming a

0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.520
<v Speaker 2>show like that, you're always looking for moments to talk

0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:47.920
<v Speaker 2>to the camera, to drop some sweet knowledge or just

0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.000
<v Speaker 2>explain what's going on. On a day when the wind

0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.400
<v Speaker 2>is just ripping across the landscape, you don't want to

0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:56.960
<v Speaker 2>just stop anywhere to talk because the sound of it

0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.560
<v Speaker 2>will go right into your microphone and ruin your talking points.

0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.080
<v Speaker 2>So as we followed Sadie through the cattails, I found

0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.520
<v Speaker 2>myself naturally stopping when we would hit a spot that

0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.200
<v Speaker 2>was out of the wind. The thing about this is

0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.280
<v Speaker 2>in that country, which is super flat and doesn't have

0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.040
<v Speaker 2>very many trees, there are a lot of spots that

0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.040
<v Speaker 2>are not out of the wind. It's rare to suddenly

0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.120
<v Speaker 2>realize you're standing in a little zone that's very calm.

0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:23.599
<v Speaker 2>I don't know how many times I stopped in a

0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.560
<v Speaker 2>spot like that and started to talk to the camera,

0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.520
<v Speaker 2>only to notice that Sadie was real birdie and that

0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.600
<v Speaker 2>I better get ready, or that we jump deer bedded

0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:38.000
<v Speaker 2>right next to us. It happened multiple times in one day. Now,

0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.559
<v Speaker 2>of course they want to lay up in a spot

0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:45.119
<v Speaker 2>that's calm, but why Well, for starters, it's more comfortable,

0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:49.240
<v Speaker 2>it's warmer, that's a no brainer. But what else, Well,

0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.320
<v Speaker 2>if you betted down just about anywhere in a dry

0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:55.160
<v Speaker 2>cattail slew that's getting pounded by the wind, the noise

0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:58.560
<v Speaker 2>factor is going to be very high. Sure you have

0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:00.840
<v Speaker 2>the wind to use to your advantage, but you lose

0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.719
<v Speaker 2>the hearing advantage. Now, why would you do that when

0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:05.880
<v Speaker 2>you could hole up somewhere that would keep you warm

0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.720
<v Speaker 2>and you could not only smell approaching danger, but have

0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:10.960
<v Speaker 2>a better chance to hear it. If you were a

0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.880
<v Speaker 2>prey animal like say, I don't know, a deer or

0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:16.800
<v Speaker 2>a pheasant, hearing that danger and keeping track of it

0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.080
<v Speaker 2>and the thick stuff is important, could literally save your life.

0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.240
<v Speaker 2>With deer, that allows them the chance to know exactly

0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.880
<v Speaker 2>where the danger is and whether they can sit tight

0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.200
<v Speaker 2>and let it pass, or they need to get the

0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.920
<v Speaker 2>hell out of dodge. That is a huge, huge advantage

0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.920
<v Speaker 2>for them. Now what good does that do anyone as

0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.559
<v Speaker 2>a hunter? Well, if I lived around those cat tail

0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.760
<v Speaker 2>sleus and was planning on deer hunting the next day,

0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.000
<v Speaker 2>but the forecast called for ripping winds, I could do

0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.280
<v Speaker 2>one of two things. I could not hunt because it's

0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.480
<v Speaker 2>too windy and I think my chances are low. Or

0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.040
<v Speaker 2>I could beat them to a spot I know they

0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.760
<v Speaker 2>should be out of the wind, or at least where

0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:59.040
<v Speaker 2>they should be going. Maybe this example is a bridge

0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.800
<v Speaker 2>too far for your per It's all hunting specifics, that's

0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.439
<v Speaker 2>fair enough. I've talked about this before, but I think

0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.360
<v Speaker 2>it's worth mentioning there are other reasons to be out there.

0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.800
<v Speaker 2>Rabbit hunting puts me on more deer betting and staging

0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.680
<v Speaker 2>areas than any kind of hunting I do, even sometimes

0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.440
<v Speaker 2>deer hunting. The good thing about this is that rabbit

0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.200
<v Speaker 2>hunting is fun to begin with. But where rabbits take

0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:21.360
<v Speaker 2>you is to the spots deer like to go when

0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:23.920
<v Speaker 2>they don't want to be found. And even more than

0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.880
<v Speaker 2>that is rabbit hunting takes you to the spots where

0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:29.200
<v Speaker 2>bucks tend to go where they don't want to be found.

0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.960
<v Speaker 2>A day spent pushing fence lines and homesteads and brush

0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.720
<v Speaker 2>piles and whatever else is a day that is going

0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.679
<v Speaker 2>to be fun but also teach you a lot about deer.

0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:41.600
<v Speaker 2>Squirrel hunting does that too, but it won't take you

0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.760
<v Speaker 2>to the betting areas and often the staging areas quite

0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.080
<v Speaker 2>like rabbit hunting will do. But it'll take you to

0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.880
<v Speaker 2>the ridges where deer feet in october under oak trees.

0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:52.440
<v Speaker 2>It'll take you into the valley you think you can't

0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:54.679
<v Speaker 2>hunt because the wind will be swirling too much, and

0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:56.760
<v Speaker 2>it'll show you all the rubs and deer sign in

0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:01.720
<v Speaker 2>that unhuntable spot and maybe chuck. Maybe while you're toting

0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.600
<v Speaker 2>a seventeen or a twenty two around there, you'll realize

0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:06.800
<v Speaker 2>you're standing right in a spot where the wind is

0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.199
<v Speaker 2>actually predictable and favorable, even in that valley you thought

0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:13.400
<v Speaker 2>you couldn't hunt. I know a lot of you are

0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:15.760
<v Speaker 2>listening to this and going, yeah, I'm not going to

0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.559
<v Speaker 2>go brush busting for bunnies on my deer leaves. I'm

0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:21.839
<v Speaker 2>not going to push the deer out fair enough, go

0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:25.199
<v Speaker 2>bunny hunting somewhere else then, or go in February if

0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:27.760
<v Speaker 2>the season's still open. You don't want to shoot some

0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.800
<v Speaker 2>squirrels for the crockpot right now in the place you

0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.080
<v Speaker 2>deer hunt, then go somewhere else. Find a spot to

0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:36.920
<v Speaker 2>go where you don't care about the deer. You'll see

0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:40.400
<v Speaker 2>how they use the landscape there too. If it's public,

0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:42.880
<v Speaker 2>you might just find something in a spot you never

0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.960
<v Speaker 2>intended a deer hunt, because you're out there looking around

0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.440
<v Speaker 2>for something that is not a deer. People often ask

0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:53.120
<v Speaker 2>me how I find so many random public land places

0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.760
<v Speaker 2>to hunt, and the answer is often that I just

0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:57.920
<v Speaker 2>like to do lots of stuff. I like to hunt

0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.200
<v Speaker 2>a lot of different critters. I also just like to

0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.040
<v Speaker 2>walk through the woods, and often I like to walk

0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:05.600
<v Speaker 2>through the woods and just look for deer. I grew

0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:07.920
<v Speaker 2>up doing this, and I had a conversation with Zach

0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.480
<v Speaker 2>Ferrenbau the hunting public about it not too long ago.

0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.080
<v Speaker 2>I honestly don't remember if we had this conversation on

0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:15.400
<v Speaker 2>a podcast or if it was just a personal phone call,

0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.040
<v Speaker 2>but it doesn't matter. We got on this topic of

0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:19.840
<v Speaker 2>finding deer and he said that he goes into the

0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.440
<v Speaker 2>woods just to look for them all year long. While

0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.120
<v Speaker 2>I was growing up, that was one of my favorite

0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.440
<v Speaker 2>things to do, and I still find myself going into

0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:30.400
<v Speaker 2>some of the parks around my house and doing the

0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.120
<v Speaker 2>exact same thing, even though I'll never hunt those deer.

0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:36.800
<v Speaker 2>It's just fun to slip up to the edge of

0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.200
<v Speaker 2>a CRP field half an hour before dark and try

0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.600
<v Speaker 2>to spot one, just as it's fun to get off

0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:43.960
<v Speaker 2>of the normal trails and see where the deer travel

0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:47.280
<v Speaker 2>and where the bucks leave their sign. This kind of

0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:52.040
<v Speaker 2>thing fills your database with useful info, you information that

0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:56.400
<v Speaker 2>stretches way beyond only the places we hunt, because, as

0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.600
<v Speaker 2>I've said before, you might think you have the whole

0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.560
<v Speaker 2>white world where you want it with your hunting ground,

0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:08.920
<v Speaker 2>but ownership changes, permission can slip away. That secret honey

0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.040
<v Speaker 2>hole of public land you've found might suddenly show up

0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:15.760
<v Speaker 2>on everyone's radar. Counting on a property to always be

0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.760
<v Speaker 2>there is a bad idea, even if you own it,

0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.640
<v Speaker 2>because the neighbors can turn over, or CWD can pop up,

0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.640
<v Speaker 2>and the sharpshooters can suddenly knock down the herd or whatever.

0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:31.040
<v Speaker 2>Things change. Going out and wandering around, whether you're looking

0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.000
<v Speaker 2>for a rooster or a bunny, or just a little

0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.240
<v Speaker 2>quiet time out of the house because you have a

0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.280
<v Speaker 2>wife and two thirteen year old daughters. It's good for

0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.160
<v Speaker 2>the soul and it's good for your hunting skills. You

0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:45.240
<v Speaker 2>get to find sign and analyze it in a low

0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:49.160
<v Speaker 2>pressure situation, or really a no pressure situation. You get

0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.200
<v Speaker 2>to jump deer and figure out why they were there.

0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:54.800
<v Speaker 2>Maybe you get to watch a few filter through the

0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:56.880
<v Speaker 2>woods or hop over a fence, or maybe you find

0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.560
<v Speaker 2>a couple of dead heads in the overgrown creek bottom

0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.160
<v Speaker 2>and four years down the road you shoot one in

0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.160
<v Speaker 2>the guts and you're having an al of a time

0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:06.000
<v Speaker 2>finding him. So you pull up on X and you

0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.680
<v Speaker 2>take a look around and you think, hmm, maybe he

0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:10.480
<v Speaker 2>made it all the way to the river and I

0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.440
<v Speaker 2>should go walk it, and you find him. The focus

0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.200
<v Speaker 2>on hunting content is often about how you can develop

0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:20.520
<v Speaker 2>your skills on a very specific piece of ground, But

0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:24.800
<v Speaker 2>developing your skills so they transcend specific spots is so

0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.240
<v Speaker 2>much better. Just as it's better to be book smart

0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.880
<v Speaker 2>and street smart. To have the academic side of the

0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.240
<v Speaker 2>hunting thing locked down is great, but you really want

0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:39.040
<v Speaker 2>to take it somewhere you need that experience. It's easy

0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:41.200
<v Speaker 2>to do on paper, but hard to do in real life.

0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.320
<v Speaker 2>So figure out a reason. Trick yourself into a bunny

0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:46.720
<v Speaker 2>hunt with the buddies. Take a twenty two out for

0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.760
<v Speaker 2>a long walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Try to

0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.480
<v Speaker 2>sneak up on a few squirrels. Go to the park

0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.240
<v Speaker 2>an hour before dark and see if you can lay

0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.040
<v Speaker 2>eyes on any deer. Do the stuff that gets you

0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:01.120
<v Speaker 2>out there and you'll gain valuable deer hunting experience. Do that,

0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.239
<v Speaker 2>you'll get better and come back next week because I'm

0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:06.760
<v Speaker 2>going to talk about Christmas and how it relates to

0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:11.280
<v Speaker 2>hunting gear. That's it for this week. I'm Tony Peterson.

0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.640
<v Speaker 2>This has been the Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast, which

0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:15.639
<v Speaker 2>is brought to you by First Light. I want to

0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:17.679
<v Speaker 2>thank you so much for all your support. We're just

0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:22.919
<v Speaker 2>about to wrap this year up and truly, honestly, without question,

0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.240
<v Speaker 2>we wouldn't be able to do any of this without you,

0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.119
<v Speaker 2>So thank you for that. Your support means the world

0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.000
<v Speaker 2>to us. If you need some more hunting content, you know,

0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:33.480
<v Speaker 2>and maybe you want to read a few articles, find

0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.879
<v Speaker 2>a recipe to cook something up for Christmas dinner. Or

0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:39.360
<v Speaker 2>New Year's Maybe a appetizer or something on New Year's Eve.

0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.399
<v Speaker 2>I don't know. Maybe you just need to listen to

0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:43.680
<v Speaker 2>some new podcasts, or you want to watch a few

0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.439
<v Speaker 2>hunting shows like the episode we just dropped where I

0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:50.520
<v Speaker 2>hunted Bear and Dear with my daughter. You can go

0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:52.760
<v Speaker 2>to them meat eater dot com and check it out.

0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.760
<v Speaker 2>So much good content there. Go there, and again, thank

0:17:56.800 --> 0:18:03.359
<v Speaker 2>you for everything.